Yogurt-garlic sauce

Base ingredients

yogurt, garlic, salt, sometimes cucumber or herbs

Application and bake suitability

Traditionally drizzled on top after baking rather than spread underneath, so it stays cool and fresh against the hot kebab meat

Not baked at all — dairy-and-garlic sauces of this kind break and curdle under sustained oven heat, so it is always a post-bake addition

Preparation and storage

Simply whisked together (yogurt, grated or crushed garlic, salt, optionally grated cucumber or herbs) with no cooking step at all — a cold condiment, not a sauce in the cooked-base sense.

Keeps refrigerated for a few days; garlic flavour intensifies the longer it sits, so it's often made close to service if a milder flavour is wanted.

Common problems

• Baking it with the pizza rather than adding it after causes it to split and taste sour
• Applying too much noticeably cools down the pizza's cheese and toppings, since it's served cold or room-temperature

Substitutions

• garlic-cream-sauce (dairy-based and garlicky but richer, and always used pre-bake rather than as a cold drizzle)

Pairs well with

Styles using this sauce

• Swedish pizzaDefiningWell established

  The cool, tangy finish that defines kebabpizza, drizzled on after baking rather than applied as a base.

Evidence

A cold yogurt-garlic sauce drizzled on after baking is structurally consistent with döner/kebab yogurt sauces generally, and specifically documented for Swedish kebabpizza.

• How Banana-and-Curry Pizza Became a Staple in This Nordic Country — PMQ Pizza Magazine